http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Oval front rings en Tue, 19 May 2026 08:41:21 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341950 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 23:07:00 +0000 jss 341950@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I just could not master that amount of eccentricity !(a moving bottom bracket front wheel drive recumbent) but they seem to have a devoted following in the US<br /> But them Yanks are weird anyways </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341948 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 22:10:28 +0000 nobrakes 341948@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@jss it was your m5 that I tried them on when I borrowed it for a week. I thought they were weird but then I loaned you the Cruzbike in return so I probably out-weirded you by some margin :) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341946 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 21:58:47 +0000 jss 341946@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I have rotor Q rings on two of my recumbents and a mixed round and oval triple on another<br /> No idea if it’s makes much difference in terms of power out put but they are nicely made and reasonably priced<br /> My knees and legs feel exactly the same on either but perhaps I am putting more out on the ovals- nothing feels weird or out of alignment<br /> I think Rotor only claim a few percentage points gain - now in my mid 70’s every bit extra for free counts,<br /> If they are good enough for Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome ,why not.?<br /> Certainly enjoy my 53 tooth outer oval ring as it effectively gives me a 56 tooth ring at the largest section of the rotation and a noticeable speed gain on the flats<br /> Shifting can be a bit trickier and I had to use an angled spacer on one front derailleur to alter its angle slightly<br /> Seem to remember reading that the retrospective judgment on the Biospace rings was that the recommended settings were the exact reverse of what they should have been </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341945 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 20:43:41 +0000 davey2wheels 341945@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@wingpig, Rotor had a hydraulic groupset back in 2016.<br /> Their latest last year has a 13 speed rear cassette. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341935 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 14:48:04 +0000 nobrakes 341935@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I tried oval rings once on a loaner and it just felt like my back wheel was out of true. Lots of the performance bent riders use them but having seen their power profiles and having time trialled with them I see no observable trend suggesting any power improvement. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341932 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 13:33:51 +0000 Arellcat 341932@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>It has been suggested that any marginal benefit (for some people) of ‘evening out’ pedal effort would be better if long/short sides were in a different orientation from the one Shimano decided.</em></p> <p>Sheldon was always happy to fly the flag for Biopace, and offered <a href="https://www.sheldonbrown.com/biopace.html">a pretty good explanation</a> of why Shimano put the smaller radius at the power stroke portion and the larger radius at the deadspots.</p> <p><em>Oval rings were a marketing gimmick.</em></p> <p>No-one really ran clipless pedals before Look thought of applying ski binding technology to bike pedals, and went all out to sponsor riders in major races. Biopace, and its imitators, probably was a technological solution to a problem that no-one had – or at least, one to which no-one had thought to apply the finest Japanese scientific minds. The crank and round chainring is already a very biomechanically efficient system, because it provides roughly a 1:5 power to recovery ratio for muscles, and using more of the rotation to generate useful power will affect stamina, just as using our 'useless' arm muscles to help propel a bike in tandem with (fully functioning) legs is not a way to go faster for longer, when the leg muscles are already capable of using all the energy the body is able to generate.</p> <p>I came to mountain bikes just when Biopace was hot stuff, but by the time I had graduated from my Sachs geary Raleigh made of weighs-a-ton steel to my Suntour XPress crmo Trek, oval chainrings were already passé, on the basis that round chainrings were 'more powerful' and probably better after all. I toy with the idea of putting a vintage Biopace chainset on my blue bike, but it's from 1991 and thus a couple of years too young for proper retrobike approval. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341928 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 13:14:20 +0000 I were right about that saddle 341928@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45589/they-flee-from-me">I don't care when it was first used I care about the best use of it.</a> So there.</p> <p>I like a disc brake. They used to be a bit pants but the tech has settled and the basic Shimano ones are super-reliable. </p> <p>I was lucky in that I had rebuilt the brakes on a Honda VFR before I touched a bicycle disc brake. If you can do that you can frankly do any brake system.</p> <p>You need to learn the basic techniques, but that's true of every component. Discs are a real comfort even for the sort of light mucking about that I do. But for sure a well set up V-brake will stop you fine in 99% of situations. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341927 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 13:13:30 +0000 ejstubbs 341927@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@chdot: I have hydraulic disc brakes on my eMTB. Having previously had an MTB with V-brakes I doubt whether that technology would have coped with the extra heft of the eMTB. I ended upgrading the disc brakes on the eMTB anyway as I found out early on that the out-of-the-box ones struggled to the point of fading quite badly on steep descents. So I now run upgraded levers and calipers, with 203mm discs front and rear and sintered metal pads. Not had any issues with leakage, or pad contamination. The latter I am careful to avoid when lubing the bike (though replacement pads are not too expensive - especially if sourced from a third-party manufacturer like Noah &amp; Theo - and easy to fit). The former I made sure that I used the correct olives &amp; inserts in the new brake hoses, and I am very careful to use the correct tools and torques on the connecting bolts and bleed screws at both ends of the hose. Nothing that can't be done at home with the correct tools, though: good metric hex wrenches and spanners, a low range torque wrench and a bleed kit from Epic Bleed Solutions.</p> <p>I also run a mechanical disc brake on the front of my venerable TriCross*, That required a new fork and new wheel as well as the caliper (Shimano CX77) but was totally worth it. The original cantilevers were about as much use as udders on a bull. I first tried some Avid Shorty cantilevers on the front, which were an improvement but still scary in the wet. The Avids are now on the back, and both the original Tektro cantis are stashed in a dark corner from whence I expect never to feel the need to retrieve them. I've not encountered any issues adjusting the Shimano caliper and I think I've now more or less bent the Avid cantis to my will sufficiently to continue using them.</p> <p><em>* Now a BiCross since I switched to a compact chainset.</em> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341925 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 11:31:34 +0000 chdot 341925@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>“plus your rims don’t get worn away by winter grime“</p> <p>Not just the grime also when you don’t replace worn brake blocks BEFORE you hear metal on metal!</p> <p>I have no ownership experience of disc brakes only directly come across the low (quality) end ones. </p> <p>If I did ‘serious’ mountain biking I’d have them. </p> <p>Anyone know of ‘lifetime’ studies of costs of disc v rim in terms of cost of pads/blocks plus rim replacement. </p> <p>I’ve also been put off by tales of pad contamination and fluid leaks. </p> <p>More potential for paying people to sort(?) - I try to avoid that... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341924 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 11:28:14 +0000 wingpig 341924@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Is anyone marketing hydraulic gear-changing systems yet? People seem very keen on them for brakes but I assume the tech would then spread to other systems. Maybe too much electricity got there first. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341923 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 11:26:44 +0000 gembo 341923@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@stitlskin, no doubt about rims. Stopping in wet would have helped me yesterday for sure</p> <p>But canti or v brake with soft stop brake blocks. I can monkey with. Discs are beyond my Ken</p> <p>Anyone going earlier than the 12th century for new fangle? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341922 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 11:18:57 +0000 stiltskin 341922@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Oval??!! Square chainrings are where it’s at Grandad.<br /> Don’t agree with you about discs. When it’s wet they make a significant difference plus your rims don’t get worn away by winter grime. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341921 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 11:02:44 +0000 chdot 341921@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Oval rings were a marketing gimmick. </p> <p>It has been suggested that any marginal benefit (for some people) of ‘evening out’ pedal effort would be better if long/short sides were in a different orientation from the one Shimano decided. </p> <p>Some people like them on (some) 80’s mountain bikes - if they are trying to retain/complete original look. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=20440#post-341919 Sat, 12 Dec 2020 10:04:29 +0000 gembo 341919@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Anyone bovvered?</p> <p>Personally I am not nor really boverred nor am I bovvered about disc brakes, or carbon. Though I do like that new fangled titanium (curiously despite Porton Down break through still not down in price)</p> <p>Ok, if not interested in that cycling query how about this one</p> <p>When was the term New fangled first used and by whom?. Google away. Hint try new fangled ness. </p>